How Catfish Totally Changed Between Seasons 1 and 2

Catfish's sophomore season is kinda like The Hills' sophomore season: Everyone has to pretend Nev, Max, and the show aren't famous, even though they are now. And that's not the only way Catfish made itself over for season two. Somehow, the intro got even longer. I swear, this whole story of how Nev's story became our story is clocking in at 7 minutes plus these days. Ixnay on the video-chat is the key to all. Last year, it was more bewildered, besotted little fools who couldn't find their way out of a paper bag when it came to the Internet. This year, the subjects are usually just people at home who are like, Oh, you can't video-chat? Because your webcam was lost...in a fire? You don't say. [Dialing Nev and Max immediately...] They're both feistier. Probably my favorite moment of the season was when Nev snapped at that mean dude, "I don't really give a $#@!" And Max's 'tude totally shines through in his questioning this season. Look at his eyes in the pic above! They eased up on the whole Google search by image thing. Which was getting to be a bit much in season one, although I remain

Catfish's sophomore season is kinda like The Hills' sophomore season: Everyone has to pretend Nev, Max, and the show aren't famous, even though they are now. And that's not the only way Catfish made itself over for season two.

Somehow, the intro got even longer. I swear, this whole story of how Nev's story became our story is clocking in at 7 minutes plus these days.

Ixnay on the video-chat is the key to all. Last year, it was more bewildered, besotted little fools who couldn't find their way out of a paper bag when it came to the Internet. This year, the subjects are usually just people at home who are like, Oh, you can't video-chat? Because your webcam was lost...in a fire? You don't say. [Dialing Nev and Max immediately...]

They're both feistier. Probably my favorite moment of the season was when Nev snapped at that mean dude, "I don't really give a $#@!" And Max's 'tude totally shines through in his questioning this season. Look at his eyes in the pic above!

They eased up on the whole Google search by image thing. Which was getting to be a bit much in season one, although I remain grateful—I've scored many a piece of furniture from a site where it was priced lower based on the technique they taught me.

You really feel for the Catfishes. This year, the person doing the deceiving always seems to have a heart-tugging twist: car accident injuries, PTSD. Nothing's quite as black and white.

We still get to watch Nev and Max travel, but now they go to zany, spooky B&Bs and random local events so that we can watch them react to regional eccentrics and kitschy decor. Beats looking at them looking at the departures and arrivals board, I guess.

Also, I guess the budget got an upgrade this year, because they get to stay in separate rooms.

Nev no longer says, "I'm making a documentary about people who meet online." He says: "I have a TV show called Catfish. Maybe you've heard of it?" And his lovable smugness is validated almost every time: Yes, they've always heard of it.

They seem to let Max use the big camera a lot more. Actually, it's only the medium camera. But shhh—what he doesn't know won't hurt his sweet, innocent heart, and he's concentrating so hard on getting it right.